When Our NeighThe Safety Net Starts with Us, JFCS’ response to SNAP cuts
The Safety Net Starts with Us
At Jewish Family & Career Services (JFCS), we’re seeing firsthand the ripple effects of the ongoing SNAP benefit cuts. This week, more individuals and families have turned to the Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry for help, parents trying to stretch paychecks that no longer cover groceries, seniors choosing between medication and meals, and children feeling the strain of hunger at home. As these government safety nets shrink, JFCS steps in to ensure no one faces hunger alone.
Your support makes that possible. Every dollar and every can of food helps sustain our community’s most vulnerable neighbors through this uncertain time. But as shelves are refilled and families are fed, JFCS’s work continues, because food insecurity rarely stands alone.
Behind every visit to the pantry is a deeper story, a job loss, a health challenge, an unexpected expense. That’s why JFCS exists not only to meet immediate needs but to walk with clients toward long-term stability through counseling, career services, family support, and care for older adults.
Meeting the Moment and the Future
Last year, more than 2,400 individuals and families turned to JFCS for help, a number that continues to grow. Food pantry requests rose by 20%, and mental health referrals surged, particularly among young adults and families. JFCS also reached nearly 600 Jewish individuals through targeted outreach, reaffirming our commitment to serving the Jewish community while welcoming all who seek support.
Rarely does someone come to us with only one challenge. A single mother may seek career counseling and discover food support. An older adult’s family may request transportation help and find connection through volunteer companionship. A young person in therapy might also find direction through career guidance.
This “wraparound care” is what makes JFCS unique, helping people move from crisis to stability, and from survival to self-sufficiency.
“JFCS has always been about creating certainty in uncertain times,” said Dr. David Finke, Chief Executive Officer. “Whether someone is facing food insecurity, mental health challenges, or job loss, JFCS helps individuals and families address multiple challenges and move from crisis to stability.”
Why Your Support Matters Now
The need for interconnected services is growing as cuts to essential programs deepen the gaps in senior care, immigrant and refugee support, food access, and rent assistance. The JFCS Annual Campaign ensures that our agency can remain flexible and responsive — meeting emergency needs today while building long-term pathways to stability tomorrow.
Your gift to the Annual Campaign does more than stock shelves. It sustains counseling for those in crisis, job coaching for those rebuilding, and care for older adults seeking safety and companionship. It allows JFCS to remain a reliable, trusted source of help, one that adapts as our community’s needs evolve.
“Community donations make up the difference,” Finke said. “They help us keep families in their homes, food on the table, hope within reach, and help here when it’s needed most.”
Be the Difference
This is the moment to make a difference. With rising needs and limited funding, every dollar counts, keeping our pantry shelves full, our counseling services accessible, and our programs for families, immigrants, and older adults running strong.
Our Annual Campaign fuels this work year-round, ensuring that when one safety net falters, our community’s strength rises to meet the need.
“Our community’s strength has always come from our willingness to show up for one another,” said Finke. “For many, this campaign is more than a fundraising effort, it’s an invitation to join in Tikkun Olam, repairing the world, one family at a time.”
How to Give
Gifts to the JFCS Annual Campaign can be made easily and securely online, by mail, or by phone. Donors may also give through a donor-advised fund (DAF), IRA qualified charitable distribution, or employer matching gift, all of which count toward the campaign goal.
Together, we ensure no one faces hunger or hardship alone, and that hope is always within reach.
URGENT NEED!
The upcoming impact of cuts to SNAP benefits will directly impact our food pantry during our busiest months of the year (the holidays). We need your help to keep our shelves stocked during these uncertain times. Click the picture to help a family today!
A Season of Giving and Community Impact
September is a month of renewal, reflection, and connection for the Jewish community. It’s a season when we look inward to take stock, and outward to see how we can help the world around us. This September brings two great opportunities for our community to come together and make a real difference for others.
On September 18, JFCS will once again participate in Give for Good Louisville, a city-wide 24-hour day of online giving. Sponsored by The Community Foundation, Give for Good Louisville unites the community in support of organizations like JFCS that make Louisville stronger, more compassionate, and more resilient. Gifts made to JFCS during this campaign will fuel vital programs that touch the lives of thousands of individuals and families across all five pillars of JFCS services.
By giving to JFCS during Give for Good Louisville, you are helping us strengthen our ability to meet these growing needs and expand opportunities for people to thrive. An example is our new Immigrant and Refugee Services, where we help newcomers not only secure meaningful employment but also purchase homes and other necessities which ensure that they can set roots and build futures in Louisville. There’s also our Career & Economic Opportunities services; recently, JFCS’s Andrea Brown was named one of the Top 15 Career Coaches in Louisville. And there’s our Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry which is working hard to meet a rising demand from more people in our community struggling with food insecurity.
We hope you’ll “Be Part of Something Good” on September 18, during Give for Good Louisville.
The JFCS page can be visited directly here >
Our annual High Holidays Food Drive is another way our community can come together to help those in need. Many local synagogues have bags for their congregations for Rosh Hashanah. Congregants will return full bags during Yom Kippur, and JFCS staff will collect donations on Friday, October 3. Donations can also be dropped off at the Trager Family JCC or JFCS.
The drive culminates with a Family Mitzvah Day on Sunday, October 5, when families will gather at JFCS to sort donations together. This joyful day includes activities for children and provides an opportunity to teach the value of “tikkun olam” – repairing the world – through hands-on service. To participate, call JFCS to sign up your family.
These two events – especially when so close together – remind us of the power and strength we have as a community when we unite around shared values. Whether through a donation to JFCS during Give for Good Louisville or by filling a bag with food for the High Holidays Food Drive, your actions this month will help bring nourishment, family stability, and opportunity to our friends and neighbors in need all year.
JFCS is proud to stand alongside you in this season of reflection and giving. With your support, we can continue to work toward all in Greater Louisville living with dignity and purpose.
Jewish Family & Career Services recently unveiled at its offices on Klempner Way a new display that is helping preserve the personal stories of Jewish life in Louisville for future generations.
Attendees at JFCS’s Annual Meeting were the first to view the new “Frank and Barbara Weisberg Family Fund for Jewish Oral History” display, which is open to visitors at the JFCS offices.
The exhibit, along with the overarching project, is years in the making. It features 22 participants who recently sat for video interviews where they reflected on their Jewish identity. Each story offers a unique and intimate perspective, and put together, they form a tapestry of tradition, resilience, and evolving identity of what it means to be Jewish in Louisville.
The Oral History project began years ago, in 2001, but thanks to the recent generous gift from Frank and Barbara Weisberg, the project gained a permanent home at JFCS and a new name. Their gift not only helped make the display possible but ensures its continued growth in the future.
“The Frank and Barbara Weisberg Family Fund for Jewish Oral History” honors their deep commitment to preserving and uplifting Jewish voices in our community.
The display itself currently features 22 individual plaques arranged across a dedicated wall. Each 8.5 x 11” plaque includes a photo of the interviewee, a memorable quote from their oral history, and a QR code linking to their full video interview on YouTube. The result is an exhibit that invites reflection, curiosity, and connection.
While the exhibit made its debut at the JFCS Annual Meeting in June, it is now open to the public for ongoing viewing by appointment. If you would like to view the display, you can call the JFCS offices at (502) 452-634 to schedule a time.
The project is far from finished. JFCS is actively seeking volunteers to help conduct future interviews, as well as additional participants who wish to share their stories. As the collection grows, so too will the physical display, expanding to include new faces and voices from across the generations.
“Through this project, we hope to honor the stories and the experiences that shape Louisville’s vibrant Jewish community — and ensuring their stories are never lost,” said Courtney Evans, JFCS Director of Advancement. “We’re so proud of what we’ve started, and with thanks to Frank and Barbera Weisberg, we’re excited about where it can go in the future.”
Those interested in participating contact JFCS by calling (502) 452-6341 or by emailing Courtney Evans at cevans@jfcslouisville.org.
Friends, supporters, agency partners, and community leaders joined Jewish Family & Career Services (JFCS) recently for a heartfelt celebration of another remarkable year of growth and accomplishments at its 2025 Annual Meeting.
JFCS CEO Dr. David Finke marked many milestones for the agency including continued expansion across all five of its core pillars: Clinical Services, Klein Older Adult Services, Family Stability, Career & Economic Opportunities, and the new pillar specifically for Immigrant & Refugee Services that we excitingly launched this past year.
This new pillar, Finke said, comes thanks to a continued partnership with the Jewish Heritage Fund, Jewish Community of Louisville, and other community stakeholders. It reflects years of growth in refugee support. The program offers services such as professional recredentialing assistance, workforce integration, and JFCS’s Match Savings Program, which helps empower families to save toward education, housing, and small business goals.
Finke shared that the agency’s budget has grown 65% over the past three years, and government grant support has more than doubled — a reflection of strategic investments in meeting urgent community needs, he said.
JFCS’s clinical team, the Sonny & Janet Meyer Food Pantry, and the Klein Older Adult Program all expanded capacity over the past year. New providers were added to each program to meet the changing needs of the community.
Highlighting the growing demand for accessible, inclusive mental health care, Finke said that JFCS expanded its support for caregivers, survivors of trauma, youth, and individuals with complex family or cultural needs.
Finke pointed out that JFCS’ Klein Older Adult program piloted a transportation to Shabbat services at local synagogues, and that it continued to lead efforts to address older adult isolation through volunteer-based telephone reassurance calls as well as growing the number of assisted living facilities that have a Shabbos Friends volunteer. JFCS has also been working with the JCRC on a special yearlong project and has been working with some local synagogues on bringing new and unique volunteer opportunities to Louisville.
While touting the agency’s achievements, Finke reinforced JFCS’s ongoing commitment to the Jewish community by reasserting what he told the sold-out crowd at the recent JFCS MOSAIC Awards: that JFCS has worked hard this year to dispel the ongoing myth that JFCS only serves Jews, while also reaffirming its commitment to serving Louisville’s Jewish community.
“The truth is: we serve both — we always have, and we always will!” Finke explained. “JFCS is a safe space where Jewish individuals can access services knowing that their Jewish Identity will be respected, valued, and incorporated into the very programs that meet their needs.”
Utilizing The Brandeis Study of Jewish Louisville, conducted in 2021, Finke highlighted the statistics showing that many individuals and families face hunger, poverty, mental health needs, and substance misuse, and face deficiencies in critical life needs.
That commitment to Jewish identity was also affirmed with the unveiling of the Frank and Barbara Weisberg Family Fund for Jewish Oral History and the inaugural exhibit highlighting 22 interviews that explore Jewish identity in Louisville. This exhibit is now on permanent display at JFCS’ offices on Klempner Way. Finke made a point of letting attendees know that volunteers and storytellers are still being recruited for the next phase of this effort.
Along with agency accolades, JFCS also uses its Annual Meeting to celebrate the achievements for community members and staff highlights with several awards.
Among those honored was Dana Dugatkin, a volunteer with JFCS Shabbos Friends who was named Volunteer of the Year. Congregation Adath Jeshurun was given the JFCS Community Collaborator Award, and the JFCS Homecare Team was given the Bob Tiell/Dave Dobson Program Innovation Award.
The most poignant moment of the evening, however, was Finke announcing the upcoming retirement of Senior Director of Programs Mauri Malka, who has been a steadfast leader at JFCS for over 34 years. Mauri’s legacy will continue to shine through at JFCS, even after her retirement.
Finke announced, in her honor, that JFCS has established the Mauri Malka Fund for Independent Aging, an endowed fund ensuring continued support for seniors to age with dignity and independence in Mauri’s honor. Malka received a heartfelt ovation from those in attendance, and it was a fitting tribute to someone who has worked so hard, for so long, in the service of others. Donations can be made to Mauri’s fund on JFCS’ website.
In closing his remarks, Finke highlighted the need for the community’s continued support of JFCS to ensure its continued mission in the face of uncertain federal grants that fund programs many JFCS clients rely on.
“We are writing the next chapter of JFCS’s story — a story rooted in Jewish values, but written for the whole community,” Dr. Finke concluded. “There may be uncertainty ahead, but one thing I know for sure is that this community cares about its neighbors.”
To learn more about JFCS services, to make a gift to the Mauri Malka Fund for Independent Aging, or to get involved, visit www.jfcslouisville.org or call (502) 452-6341.